Saturday, July 26, 2014

European Championship Cadets U15: Final Day, July 26

The Netherlands defended their title at the European Championship Cadets U15 in Paderborn/Dortmund, Germany and became the lone record title holder in this age category, breaking a tie with Italy.

In a dramatic final on Saturday in Paderborn the Netherlands overcame a 3-10 deficit to edge out the Czech Republic 11-10. A RBI fielder’s choice by Fernando Perez in the bottom of the seventh lifted the Dutch team to the walk-off victory. The Czech had scored eight runs in the top of the sixth to take the lead, highlighted by a grand slam home run of Marek Chlup.

The Netherlands had reached the final after an 11-1 rout over host Germany in the semi-finals on Friday, scoring seven runs in the first two frames en route to the victory. The Czech Republic beat Lithuania 13-2 in the second semi-final. In the game for third place Germany prevailed 12-2 over Lithuania to claim the bronze medal.

In the classification round Belarus and Sweden edged out Russia and the Ukraine to remain in the A-Pool. Poland and Austria will replace Russia and the Ukraine in next year’s European Championship Cadets U15.

During the closing ceremony Samuel Steigert (Germany) got named best batter of the tournament, Christopher Koeiman (Netherlands) best pitcher. Koen Halderman (Netherlands) become the trophy for the Most Valuable Player.